Alabama

Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper (9) works through drills during the Crimson Tide's 11th preseason football practice of the 2013 season, a scrimmage, Saturday, August 10, 2013, at Bryant-Denny in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com)

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama -- Amari Cooper isn't sure how defenses will attack him during his sophomore year. The Alabama wide receiver is as matter-of-fact as any of his teammates when he talks with reporters, and a prediction like that would just be a waste of time.

Cooper prefers to focus on what he can control.

The Crimson Tide's wide receiving corps is stockpiled with more talent than it's ever had during the Nick Saban era and quarterback AJ McCarron is back for one more year. But in Cooper's mind, that won't mean a thing if he isn't a better version of the wide receiver who set a slew of Alabama freshman receiving records in 2012.

It's why Cooper's first offseason at Alabama might turn out to be just as valuable as his first season.

"My goal was just to come out and work hard every day and see what it will get me," Cooper said. "I try to come out every day in the summer and work my hardest because I know consistency will lead to success."

It started with self-awareness that he didn't know it all when it pertained to proper offseason training.

Cooper gained eight pounds, going from 198 to 206, but it hasn't slowed him. He worked meticulously with Alabama's weight room trainers to find a way to carry that weight with even more speed than he used with last year's lighter load.

"I thought you got faster by running on sleds," Cooper said. "That does get you faster, but the most important thing when it comes to speed is getting your
technique down. Technique, that's the main thing when it comes to speed."

The improvement was noticeable enough that Cooper has already claimed his first victory of the 2013 season. No one on the Crimson Tide's roster posted a better cumulative score in three summer conditioning tests than him.

On Saturday, he caught four passes for 182 yards and three touchdowns in Alabama's first preseason scrimmage. In the Crimson Tide's three scrimmages since the BCS National Championship, he has 13 catches for 410 yards and eight touchdowns.

"That means the guy’s worked really hard," Alabama coach Nick Saban said after Saturday's scrimmage. "He’s
in great shape. And he’s had a really good camp so far.

"He’s a hard worker, he’s got a really good
attitude, he plays fast every day in practice."

Cooper's receptiveness to coaching stems back to his early playing days. If it weren't for his earliest coaches, Cooper might have never caught the game-winning touchdown in last year's SEC Championship.

"(Wide receiver) wasn't something I wanted to play because when you're young you don't
throw the ball much," Cooper said. "I wanted to play running back, but they would never put
me at running back. I started loving receiver and as I kept growing
older, we kept throwing the ball more and I kept liking it more and
more.

"It's something I've played all my life. It's something I've gotten
better at each year."

When he started receiving offers from schools across the country, Cooper said he took advice he received from one of his first high school coaches when he ultimately decided to attend Alabama.

The advice had everything and nothing to do with the Crimson Tide.

"I was about to go to this private school who ran the ball a lot," said Cooper, who had offers from every major Florida school, Ohio State and others. "He was
like, 'Listen, if they have a threat at receiver, they'll use the threat
that they have.' That's the kind of mentality I had when choosing this
school."

Cooper became enough of a threat in Alabama's offense that he did, in fact, see a few double-teams near the end of his dazzling freshman season. It mattered little.

Cooper amassed more than 100 receiving yards in four of Alabama's five final games and logged a reception of 34 yards or longer in each of those games. In a matter of a few months, he went from DeAndrew White's backup at the X receiver spot to one of the top pass-catching threats in the nation.

"From where he started to his progression through the season, we felt
that toward the end of the season, he was playing as good as anybody in
the country at that position," Alabama offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier said. "He continues to develop, and I can talk
about the little intricacies, he's still learning.

"He's really starting
to focus on the little things that are going to take his game to the
next level."

When he first started to fall in love with the position, Cooper said he drew inspiration from St. Louis Rams receivers Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt.
Members of a high-octane offense known as "The Greatest Show on Turf,"
they wreaked havoc on opposing defenses that weren't able to focus on
just one receiver.

Surrounded by eight scholarship receivers who
were all four-star recruits or better coming out of high school, Cooper
could very well be the key cog in a similar style of attack.

Just don't mention that around Cooper. He doesn't want to get ahead of himself.

"We'll just use the same strategies that we used in the previous years," he said. "It will work."